Chicken and health: from ancestral diet to intensive farming, the keys to quality white meat - [MEMBER ZONE]

The majority of poultry consumed worldwide are derived from intensive livestock farming. What are the risks for your healthy longevity, and what are the alternatives? That's what we're going to find out in this comprehensive article, part of the chapter on the best meats in the keto-diet.Mediterranean.

All the first part of this content is accessible to all, and the second part will be reserved exclusively for to Blooness members.

Part 1 in podcast format

Part 2, reserved for Blooness members, is available below in podcast format.

For thousands of years, poultry, especially chickenChickens play a central role in the human diet. The first varieties of domesticated hens originated in Southeast Asia, and subsequently spread throughout the world. They have thus become a major source of proteinsthanks to chicken, which is quite simply the most widely consumed meat in the worldbut also by the eggs given by the hens.

The problem is hen living conditions and feed have changed since the industrialization of poultry farming. These major changes have led to reduced nutritional quality of the products we consume, in addition to harm animal welfare and the environment. And that's without even mentioning processed chicken products to which other poor-quality ingredients are added.

These modifications to the farms are reminiscent of what we saw in the previous chapter, dedicated to the feeding and intensive rearing of ruminants such as cattle, cows and lambs.

In this new chapter of Blooness guideso we're going to explore poultry feeding and rearingfrom ancestral practices to modern developments, to understand the stakes and impacts of these transformations, and see for yourself which farming methods are best for human health when eating chicken?This is particularly true when you want to meet the prerequisites of the Mediterranean dietwhite meat is an integral part of this diet, provided of course that it is of the highest quality.

Because it's not all about practicing a a balanced carbohydrate diet, Mediterranean or paleoHowever, the animals consumed must have been bred and fed in such a way as to more or less "stick" to what the animals may have consumed in ancestral diets, otherwise we would be mimicking these diets. sometimes inefficiently.

Based on lifestyle standards Mediterraneanand more generally Blue Zonesas well as on the reduced carbohydratesThe goal remains the same: optimize your diet to give yourself the best chance of healthy longevity.

And that's why we had to deal in depth with the subject of chicken meatthe most consumed meat in the world, and most likely by yourself, in order to make chickenand the white meat in general, a health ally rather than an obstacle.

Poultry reminder

As we saw in the chapter devoted to the various animal familiesPoultry includes the following animals:

• The chicken who is a white meat relatively low in fatssuitable for and grilled dishes, and is fairly inexpensive, in addition to having a very accessible taste and texture, which makes chicken the meat of choice in the United States. the most consumed in the world.
• Turkey : Poultry similar to chicken but largeroften used in roasts and festive preparations. Its meat is lean and tastyideal for light dishes.
• The duck who is a fattier meat with a much more pronounced and less accessible taste.and is an ideal meat for confits, magrets and simmered dishes.
• Guinea fowl whose flesh is tastier and slightly firmer than chicken.
• The goose which presents a fatty, tasty fleshwhich is usually prepared for special occasions.

Finally, in the hen family, we find the following typologies:

• The chicken, which is a young male gallinaceousGallinaceae is a family of animals that includes different species of birds such as turkeys, hens, guinea fowl, quail and pheasants.
• The hen is simply the female chicken.and is at least one year old.
• The poularde is a young hen that has not yet laid eggs and has been fattened.
• The roosterwhich is the adult male chickenwith a more muscular, firmer meatrequiring slow cooking in general.
• Visit caponwhich is a castrated rooster to make its meat more tender and fatty, and is usually served at festive occasions.
• Visit cockerelwhich is a young chickena little smaller than the classic chicken, and whose tender meat is suitable for rapid cooking.
• And finally the chick, which is even younger than the cockerel, only a few weeks old.

It's important to remember that there are several poultry farming sectors, and that in addition to the different sectors we'll be covering throughout this chapter, there are also farms that produce meat, and farms that produce eggs.

So much for that little overview.

Ancestral poultry feed

We'll now take a look at what is the ancestral and natural poultry diet?which will allow us to try and see if we can imitate this way of eating as part of a virtuous breedingThe aim, as you will have understood, is to improve or at least not harm the health of animals intended for human consumption, with the ultimate aim of not harming the human health of consumers.

Foods that poultry find naturally in the wild

In their natural or semi-wild state, poultry will feed opportunistically on nutrients naturally present in grasslands and natural environments. It may seem difficult to reproduce this natural hazard in a Cartesian and controlled way, which is why the intensive livestock industry is looking for quick and profitable solutions to meet very strong consumer demand. This not only sustains demand, but also enables prices to be adapted to consumers' budgets.

That's why we'll keep reminding you in this guide that the quality of food available in supermarkets and hypermarkets must be of the highest quality. are related to consumer budget constraintsand not everyone can afford to eat high-quality food every day.

All the subtlety will therefore consist in juggling different quality levels to reduce as far as possible the risk of exposure to toxins, or the risk of exposure to nutrients to which the body is not well adapted, within the constraints of the available budget.

And in this balance, we'll see in future content that it's possible to limit exposure to certain health-damaging substances depending on the cuts of meat we have available.

But before we look at the problems associated with intensive livestock farming and the consumption of products derived from it, we need to know how to deal with them, typical natural foods for which hens are metabolically adapted.

• The seeds

First of all, we have seeds, which come from wild or cultivated plants, such as grasses or pulses present in their environment. When we speak of grasses, we mean young shoots and tender stems often found in natural or sown meadows, and no human-domesticated wheat. Yet this domesticated wheat has been introduced into modern chicken rations.

These fallen grains or grains available in the animal's environment can represent up to 50% of natural or semi-natural poultry feed.

• Insects

Natural chicken diets also include insects such as larvae, locusts, ants, earthworms and beetles.

These insects are a major source of protein and amino acids for poultry, and can represent around 20 to 30% of their diet in a natural state.

• Herbs and small plants

Then we find herbs and small plants of all kindswhich include grasses, clovers and tender leaves, rich in vitaminsin minerals and in fibers.

These plants can account for between 15 and 25% of the poultry's natural feed ration.

• Berries and fruit

Last but not least berries and more or less wild fruits such as blackberries and fallen berries, particularly in summer and autumn. Fruit supplements the chickens' diet with sugar and antioxidants, and represents a small part of the animals' natural feed intake, around 5 to 10%.

The advantages of this natural diet

In concrete terms, a hen left to roam freely in a meadow will naturally peck at the foods we've just reviewed, and thus grains from natural plants, insects hidden under stones or in the ground, or very specific herbs that the hen or chicken can digest.

These foods, to which chickens have adapted over the millennia, provide a specific response to their micronutrient requirements. And since poultry are adapted to these nutrients, this natural feeding method will give these animals considerable advantages:

• First and foremost, these nutrients provide nutritional diversityEach natural element provides essential micronutrients, such as specific amino acids in insects or antioxidants in berries, for example. This nutritional diversity makes it possible to support the proper functioning of chickens' internal organs, strengthen their immune system and reduce the risk of deficiencies.
• Secondly, natural poultry feed contributes to the maintaining ecosystemsThis symbiotic relationship can be seen in a number of ways, for example by dispersing seeds or regulating certain insect populations. In the end, nature is well done, and this symbiosis reminds us of what we said on the natural diet of ruminants such as cattle and cowsIn particular, the fact that the virtuous breeding of cattle, sheep and ruminants in general was not so deleterious from an ecological point of view.

In concrete terms, a natural diet enables poultry to lay nutrient-dense, micronutrient-dense eggsand provide high-quality white meatby inducing a better lipid profile in animals that benefit from this feeding method, in addition to giving them greater rich in vitamins and mineralsThis means more robust overall health and better immunity.

With a improved health and immunitypoultry present a lower risk of contracting diseases. And the positive effect is that if poultry are in good health thanks to a suitable diet, it is no longer necessary to give them antibiotics systematically, as can sometimes be the case in intensive farming.

And speaking of intensive breeding, we're going to see in the second part of this content reserved for Blooness members what this type of breeding involves, the feed given to poultry in intensive farmingthe differences with reasoned breedingand we'll find out at the end of this content the precise impact of intensive livestock farming on our healthto help us make the right choices in the future when it comes to eating white meat.

Thanks to the rest of this content, you'll now know how to what is the natural diet for poultry?what we give them in intensive farminghow to raise them when you want to accelerate their growthand for what precise reasons these "fast breeders" are bad for our health. This will give you the keys to understanding will help à make conscious food choicesWhen you need to identify, buy and eat white meat.

Ready to go? Let's get started!

Part 2 in Podcast format for Blooness members only